A Time for Mending
by Irish Maiden16
Summary: Selina made promised herself that she would help build his strength, but she never expected that he would unlock her heart in the process. (Post- TDKR)


**A Time for Mending**

**Disclaimer : All characters belong to Christopher Nolan and DC comics**

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Commissioner Jim Gordon asked in a frantic voice. He had heard Talia's dying words. He knew that the reactor core couldn't be stabilized.

"Two minutes," Batman said as he felt a numbness in his right side.. "I can fly it out over the bay."

Selina looked over her shoulder and noticed the splotch of blood pouring out of the flesh of the dagger wound. She bit her bottom lip feeling the pulse in her veins, she shifted her gaze to the core and felt a burning in her heart ignite as she nodded. " Rig it to fly over the water... then bail." she said moving toward Batman with a confident gleam shining in her dark eyes behind the slits of her mask._  
_

Batman shook his head.

"No autopilot." he replied with a shaky tone. " I have to do this. For Gotham." He looked into her dark eyes as he dropped the cable. "It's what needs to be done."

She narrowed her eyes. All emotions were betraying her. She felt the shroud of guilt become etched over her delicate features. "You could have gone anywhere," she said. "Been anything. But you came back here."

"So did you," he reminded her watching her eyes fill with stinging tears. He pulled himself closer he could see her soul tearing apart inside irises of coffee. There was so much that he wanted to tell her in those final moments they had before he would sacrifice himself for the people of Gotham. He leaned his head closer to her, lips burning to touch her flesh stained with crimson.

She lifted her head and smiled before saying, "I guess we're both suckers." She boldly stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him pouring her life into him, as he faintly closed his eyes feeling her warm lips melt over his mouth as he felt the wounds of his starting to mend, he deepened into further into the kiss, shivering has her tongue slipped inside his mouth. Her gloved fingers run down the surface of the cowl, as they pressed into each other wishing that this moment could last forever.

When he pulled away, she opened her eyes and only let him stare at for moment before backing away. She silently wished that she could tell him that she loved him and wanted to dance with him once more without the masks, but instead she watched him raced to the Bat, she listened to boots crunch the snow covered cement until she watched him stand next to the Bat.

Selina paced to the aircraft, her heart drumming against her rib cage. "Please ," she mumbled to his grimacing in discomfort from the dagger wound. "Come back to me, Bruce."

Gordon kept his pace beside Batman. "This is the end," he said with his wearily eyes shifting to the young brunette standing inches away . He placed his hand on Batman's arm.

"I'm flying the core over the bay," he replied as he felt his soul ripping into pieces. He took a deep inhale. "I'm doing what is necessary to save Gotham." He looked at through the graphite slits of the cowl, stared at Selina for one final moment before climbing into the cock pit.

"I never cared who you were," Gordon said looking into the dark eyes of his elusive ally and protector.

"And you were right.." Batman breathed out, flicking up the turbine controls with a shaky hand.

"Shouldn't the know the name of the hero that saved Gotham."

Batman settled his steady gaze on the Commissioner and rasped out with a firm tone. "A hero can be anyone...even something as simple of a man putting a coat a boy and telling him the world hadn't ended."

The cockpit hissed shut.

"No! Mr. Wayne get out of there!" Selina screamed as the cock pit hissed shut. Right at the moment when his name fell on her chilled lips, she felt her heart drop at dismal pulse."Wayne!"

Gordon stepped back speechless. "Wayne? Bruce Wayne?"

* * *

Inside the cockpit, Batman saw her crash to her knees in front of Gordon, and saw her head starting to lower. His hands gripped the controls. He sucked back a intake of courage and whispered underneath his breath as the engine roared to life."Goodbye, Miss Kyle. "

"Mr. Wayne!" Selina shouted in a raw breathless voice, as she felt all his strength leave his body when he looked into his piercing eyes starting at through the bullet-proof glass of the cockpit. She felt moisture well into her eyes knowing that would be the last time she would see his handsome face, the final moment to her dream shredded into pieces and no matter how hard she tried to lift herself off the ground and stop his from becoming a memory etched one a gravestone, she was frozen in time. She felt the numbness flow into her veins, and the stabbing of her broken heart throb into his chest. When she tried to speak...nothing came out...just the emptiness that poured out from his soul.

She listened to the bone-chilling guttural roar ignite from the turbine engines that accompanied a violent takeoff as she felt the vibrations shake every fiber of her body. She watched the Bat the ascend into the sky, as the downdraft dusted over her suit surrounding the the buildings with the sudden rumble in the wake of the launch.

Selina slammed his fist into the frozen cement, not caring if her knuckles became broken or bruised. She felt the overwhelming shame and disgust ravage her soul. She lifted her head and swallowed the knot of guilt constricting in her throat. Her body shivered as he felt the warmth of human comfort enter her bones.

"He's not coming back," she dejected and slowly lifted herself off the cement. She looked at Bat disappearing through the streets. "We'll never see him again, isn't that right Commissioner?" she bit out feeling her lips quiver and stared into the grey-blue eyes of the a good man that she respected.

"He will be remembered," Gordon replied softly. "We'll remember who he was underneath the mask...he was a good man and he took everything this city threw at him...because he was the Dark Knight. And he will always be a hero."

Selina clenched her eyes shut. She shuddered feeling the rumbling of bomb detonation as a black veil shroud over her pale features. "He was more," she gently said averting her eyes from the spectrum's of red and orange canvasing the morning sky. "...more than just a man in a mask."

Both of them stood in silence as the echoes of the chemical explosion faded off into the horizon.

* * *

Two hours later,

Selina felt the frosty air brush over her lips, she walked along the frozen shoreline and started out at the icy water looking at the sunlight gleaming over the rocky waves. She didn't care about the numbness flowing in her legs or the cheers of liberation echoing through snow covered streets. She was never one to care...sometimes even her soul doubted her emotions.

She lowered her head and felt the stinging guilt pinned over her slender body. She felt the lashes of remorse strike against her frozen skin and enter her aching bones. The gray shades of her twisting soul started to melt with the tears of regret. She looked out at the horizon and still felt the warmth of his shielding embrace as if it was an invisible cloak. She still heard his voice that spoke reassurance, hope and truth.

Selina thought she would never have a reason to grieve but for the first she felt her porcelain shell shatter as she finally felt flesh and blood.

She let out a heavy exhale of the air and pulled out the JPEG from a compartment of her belt. It was her ticket to freedom beyond the barricades of her past mistakes. A key of opening a door to a better life. As she looked down at the device she felt empty.

She slipped her eyes shut and wished she would see again and him the truth that pounded against her throbbing heart. When she opened them and gazed at the fragments of metal from the Bat as gulped down and released a swallow breath. "Despite are differences...I hope you're happy...where ever you are, Mr. Wayne." She felt a warm tear trickle down her frozen cheek and she blew him a farewell kiss. "See you around, handsome."

She turned around, long auburn hair whipped against her shoulder and she knitted her eyebrows sensing a something familiar and unknown in the shadows underneath the bridge. She glared around with a sharp gaze and gingerly moved underneath the metal girders. Her eyes scanned the area and heart was drumming faster against her chest.

Suddenly she heard movement sloshing in the swallow water. She took a deep breath and stepped closer. Her instincts were screaming and anticipation was rising. She mentally counted each step as her heels dug into the rocky ground. She almost lost her footing as her expression became stone like. Inside her heart stuttered and her eyes fell onto the motionless body of Batman. He was a dark lump lying flat on his stomach surrounded by sand and flotsam. His long cape was torn as it surged and receding in the current.

Selina crept closer to him. "Mr. Wayne," she spoke lightly and crouched down. She tugged at his plated shoulder. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

"You given everything," she chewed her. Emotions were betraying her. " Is this what you wanted? To die alone?" She settled her eyes on rolling current bashing over his legs. She mashed her teeth into her bottom lip before saying. "We couldn't have been," she slammed her eyes shut momentarily. "You bastard.." she hissed and shook his shoulder with firm force in her hand. "Snap out of this and come back." She implored. "Please. Come back."

A light choking noise broke through the silence and she watched his head move. She quickly shot up with a bewildered gaze in her eyes. He slowly began to rise and opened his chalked colored lips as he spat out a stream of salt water from his lungs. He coughed out drops of blood as rays of sunlight shone over his battered body.

"Bruce," she said with wide stare as she dropped to her knees and flipped his body cover. His hands splashed into the water. She surveyed his body searching for burns and horrible wounds from the explosion. There was only Talia al Ghul's dagger infliction on his right side and a few bloody marks on his exposed chin.

Batman blinked. "Miss Kyle," he wheezed out, his hazel-green eyes sharpening into focus. He looked up at him and curled his lips into a faint smile with infuriatingly peaceful look . "Selina," he said with a raw voice. She placed her gloved hand on his plated chest.

Selina arose and held out her hand to him. "Look this is rare for me...I suggest you take it before I change my mind." Batman nodded and reached for her hand, she help him to his feet but he fell hard on his back and released a loud grunt.

"Come on Wayne," she muttered looking into his warm eyes. "Pick yourself up."

"I can't," he replied with a wince. He pressed his hand over the dagger wound. "I'm too weak..."

Selina shook her head diminishing his vulnerability. "I don't want to heard those words." she spoke with a firm, calmly voice. "Pick yourself up."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'll just keep falling..."

"I'll keep on lifting you up...try again." she ejected. "Take my hand."

He nodded and squeezed her hand with his own, using all his remaining strength he finally straightened off the moist sand. He leaned his body against her and she laced her arm over his back for support.

"I'm not going to you fall," she assured him with a gentle smile.

He shifted his eyes and looked into her coffee-colored eyes. "I was right about you," he breathed out. "I knew there was more to you, Selina Kyle." He pressed his surface of his cowl against her brow. She was shivering as he encircled his arms around her. "Why didn't you," he swallowed thickly. "Leave Gotham?"

She looked directly into his eyes, a whirl wind of emotions was forming inside her gut. "I have my reasons." she replied. "If you must know the truth," she narrowed her eyes slightly away from his. "I had to reclaim what was stolen from me." She placed her hands on the edges of the cowl and eased the hard mask off his head until her eyes beheld the pale cut-stone features of Bruce Wayne. His head was messy and drench, tendrils cloaked his eyes and yellow tinged bruises sculpted over his cheeks.

Bruce titled his head. "Did you get it back?"

Selina smiled sweetly at him. "I think so," she answered before leaning her lips closer as he mirrored that same until she felt his numb lips cover her mouth with a soft kiss. Her body surged with his for a moment before he broke away.

They both locked their eyes.

She wrapped her arms over his shoulders and kissed him feverishly s they embraced the warmth radiating from their bodies.

"Selina," he whispered against her ear after they broke from their kiss, panting for air. He lifted his hands and framed her face before slipping his tongue once more into her mouth. He pulled himself away. She saw that his eyes were growing dim from exhaustion. He almost collapsed but she held on to him.

"I'm not going to let you go, Bruce." she whispered latching her arms over his waist.

"I know you won't," he said softly with a content smirk before his eyes closed. She ripped the cape off and gently eased him down.

She lain with him in the snow and watched the rays of light graze over the curvatures of his face - his sharp jaw, the wave of his upper lip and twitches of her eyes but she kept her eyes entranced by the rise and fall of his chest and rested her head on his plated armor. She pressed her lips on his bat insignia as her heart made a promise to him.

"I'm going to take care of you, Bruce Wayne."


End file.
